Breakers rout Dolphins in home opener

The home debut of the Laguna Beach High girls’ basketball team was a

huge success Tuesday as the defensive-minded Breakers routed Dana

Hills, 64-40, in nonleague play.

Stellar performances from Brittany Clark and Claire Bevacqua saw

Bevacqua lead Laguna with 23 points, six steals, six rebounds, three

blocks and five assists, while Clark scored 22 points to go along

with seven assists and six rebounds.

Freshman Tess Grogan chipped in eight points and three steals and

senior Andrea Ventura had nine rebounds and a pair of steals.

“Everyone contributed to this one,” Laguna coach Stacy Howard

said. “As a team, we only had 12 turnovers and put 64 points on the

board.

“It was a great effort for our home opener. I hope we showed the

home crowd what they have to look forward to with this group this

year. This team is so fun to watch with their speed and fearlessness

on the floor.”

With the defense limiting Dana Hills to 40 points, Bevacqua and

Clark paced the offense.

“We are getting great production from Clark and Bevacqua, as they

are really making a lot of things happen on the floor,” Howard said.

“Our freshman are starting to get comfortable, starting to get

aggressive and that is fun to watch.

“This group has really made a commitment to communication and that

is what I am really seeing take over with this group. They made good

adjustments last night, talked it up on the floor and kept everything

under control.”

Prior to Tuesday’s win over Dana Hills, Laguna split its last two

games at the Cajon Tournament.

In what Howard believes is the program’s first “triple-double”

performance, Clark scored 16 points and had 10 steals and 10 rebounds

in a 65-42 win over Pacific.

Clark was five of 12 from the field and hit half of her 12 free

throws. She also handed out four assists.

“It was a tremendous effort that started on defense and inspired

the rest of the team to a great team victory,” Howard said. “We set a

program record scoring 65 points.”

Bevacqua had a double-double with 17 points and 10 boards. as

well. Freshman Lauren Kelly scored four points to go along with seven

rebounds and Grogan had seven points and three steals.

In another tournament game, Laguna was edged by Redlands East

Valley, 45-42.

Bevacqua led the Breakers with 20 points and five rebounds, Grogan

hit a trio of three-point baskets and all three of her free throws to

finish with 12 points, and grabbed eight rebounds, as well.

Clark had three steals, four assists and six rebounds.

“It was a game we should have won,” Howard said. “We never had the

defensive intensity that we had the night before against Pacific and

that lack of intensity carried over to the offensive end.

“We missed a lot of shots. We were 11 of 48 from the field and

could have wrapped it up early had some of those fallen.

Disappointing to go 1-2 at the that tourney, but we saw some good

stuff form the kids and they worked through a long week.”

In boys’ basketball action, Laguna was defeated by Francis Parker,

64-43, Tuesday in the opening round of the Irvine World News

Tournament.

Laguna fell behind, 19-3, after the first quarter, and never

recovered.

Jeff Clark led the Breakers with 10 points and Josh Cedeno scored

eight.